The Stories We Weave

How many data points does it take to shape a story, so the client walks away from a meeting with confidence in you, the project team, and the project? Is this a trick question? I’ve seen stories put together with vaporware, twine, string, and a grain of fact. In my experience, a client is looking for the evidence they want to see. If a project is important to them to succeed (i.e., their career is riding on the success of the project they have agreed to) then they will want to see success and will view data markers from that perspective. If, on the other hand, the client has been brought in to review where a project stands and whether it should proceed, they may view the same data points from an entirely different perspective. Glass half empty or glass half full.

The drivers to putting together a story for the client are the questions the client will ask. Understanding what motivates the client is critical to being able to put together the explanation of what is happening in the project in a way to gain client confidence. How can you learn what is important to the client? Asking them seems easy enough and I’ve discovered that doesn’t always get the responses needed. There are usually hidden truths not shared, not out of malice, out of a belief that boundaries are important, or out of a desire to share only pertinent information. An example would be a client who is reluctant to share that the last three projects they’ve led have been over budget and that leadership has been clear that another project over budget would be harmful to their career. To discover what is important to the client it is important to listen not only to what the client is saying, it is important to understand their actions and those things they are not saying.

What is the trick? No trick, well, not really. The idea is to listen. Not listening thinking of your response, not listening wondering why they aren’t getting what you are trying to say, and not listening while thinking that we’ve talked the same topic repeatedly. The trick? Caring about the client and what the client is saying. No, this isn’t altruistic mumbo jumbo. This is nuts and bolts caring about other people, making them more important that what you have to say. Making it your job to understand first and then, after understanding fully, asking questions from a caring and listening perspective, being curious what the client means and what they are looking for, only then is it possible to begin to weave the story, paint the picture, and provide the information that the client desires.

This isn’t a “The customer is always right” perspective. To meet the client where they are, putting the data points, as factually put together as possible, into a language they understand, in a manner where they will understand it.

As a project manager I am responsible for providing information in a manner that explains the health of a project so that the client understands. I am responsible for get the data to show the client that the project is proceeding, not necessarily as planned because that isn’t always possible, but as near to plan as possible. I am responsible for providing the ebb and flow narrative, the explanations, the heads up, and the good, bad, and yes, potentially ugly information associated with a project. I am responsible for sharing the news that is uncomfortable to share without causing more undue stress than necessary.

To make that happen, I must approach every communication with the client with an intentional message, a context for the message, and clear data points that back that up. That means I get to be clear in my own head and think through what I want to the client to walk away from every meeting with. Context, intention, data points, and walk away with. When I set up my meetings with a clear context for the meeting, I set a clear intention for the meeting, I gather the data points that support the context, the intention, and the walk away with, I have a successful meeting. It is when I am unprepared that meetings go off the rails.

By the way, the context, intention, data points, walk away with are successful in all meetings, not only client meetings. Practicing these things, no matter what conversations you want to have, work or personal, provides a formula where relationships can be healthy, and outcomes can be progressive. Workshops, meetings, conversations of any type can reap a benefit from a little preparation. Context, intention, data points and clear outcomes (walk away with) makes a difference. What are you practicing today?

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The Happy Project Manager

The more time I spend in studying personal wellbeing, the more I understand that, for many, career success is influenced by an individual’s wellbeing. I want to qualify that since there are examples of those who are successful in one area of life while challenged in another (think career and personal relationships). There have been times in my own life when my career was going quite well while my personal life was, well, a mess. Creating a life that is balanced and successful in every dimension will increase the opportunities for success. There is a saying, the way we do one thing is the way we do everything. While a huge generalization, there are elements of truth in that statement. While we may be successful in career and be challenged in personal relationships, those challenges bleed into our work relationships and will, in the long run, show up and hold our careers back. Fundamentally, creating balance, increasing our personal wellbeing, and focusing inward will increase the likelihood for personal success in all domains.

What are these dimensions, areas, or domains? Well, the list could be quite extensive. In my research I discovered anywhere from 3 to 8 different areas. As I was considering my own personal search, my focus was largely on the physical aspects of wellbeing. As I continued to read, study, and be curious, I discovered that the dimensions (3 or 8) are intertwined and cannot be untangled. What I found is that focusing on one dimension without focusing on another slowed my personal progress in all areas. What that means is, focusing on work at the expense of our social wellbeing will, over time, cause issues for our work life. While there is some intuitive alignment to that logic, when it comes to making choices in the moment, if we haven’t taken the time to step back and determine our personal needs and desires for our lives and each dimension of our life, our choices may or may not align to what will be best for our personal wellbeing. Does that mean we have to plan out our lives and live an inflexible plan? Of course not. What it means is that our choices, whatever they are, are best made with awareness of what is important to us and those we surround ourselves with. Creating our personal wellbeing allows us to be aware, to show up, to be present, and to fully experience life. It doesn’t guarantee our decisions and choices will be exceptional, it means we are not making choices blindly.

You may be wondering what this has to do with project management. Leading by example is the best way possible to lead. If you are stepping into every day filled with possibility, so will your team. Your team is a direct reflection of who you are showing up as. If you show up slow, dull, unable to find the possibilities in situations, so will your team. If you show up like it matters, every day giving your best to every situation, so will your team. Your personal wellbeing is the biggest influence you will have on your team. Being unwell doesn’t support your project, not taking care of yourself personally will not support your team, and it is impossible to hide your way of being, by that I mean your fundamental attitude, from your colleagues. It matters how you show up.

Practicing personal wellbeing, finding balance and harmony in all aspects of your life, will increase your ability to deal with the daily circumstances of your life. Your overall wellbeing is dependent upon the health of your intellectual, physical, financial, career, social, spiritual, environmental, and emotional dimensions. Practicing habits that foster a balanced life will create opportunities in your life that will surprise you. It has surprised me. I think the biggest reward is, no matter the circumstances, I am filled with wonderment at the possibilities that life offers. Working with that kind of attitude rubs off on others and makes a difference in the workplace for everyone. Imagine if we all started our days filled with joy. What a world it would be. What are you practicing today?

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It’s Magic

Project success can seem like a magic trick, the audience isn’t quite sure what happened and, even if they know how the trick works, it can still appear magical. So, it is with project success. The number of books written, methodologies identified, and the number of diplomas and certifications available suggest that project management is an extremely complex, challenging, and potentially rewarding career. The interesting thing is, we manage projects as a normal part of our lives. From getting a job to cooking a meal, taking care of a lawn to painting a room, taking a vacation to going to college. Almost everything we do requires creating a plan to obtain a specific outcome and then executing that plan which is what project management is in its simplest form. What are the inherent challenges of creating a successful project? Where do these challenges come from? Where in the project life cycle do projects begin to fail? While failure is frequently discovered towards the end of a project, it rarely starts where it is discovered. Intrinsically, we sense that it isn’t the end where failure occurs, it is simply where it is noticed. How do we, with all the education, knowledge, historical information, and brain power available still find ourselves pushing hard toward the end line, sacrificing our personal lives for a work project?

Where and why do projects fail? Projects fail because we fail to practice the due diligence and rigor necessary at the very beginning. They fail before the project start date, prior to anyone beginning the work associated with the plan. Failure occurs when we begin work before we consider where the end line is, what it will take to get there, and why we are doing the work. Failure occurs every step along the project plan when we do work that is unplanned, unscheduled, and out of scope. Failure occurs when we start work prior to clearly defining the work. Failure occurs when assumptions are made without writing them down or eliminating the assumption and gathering the necessary details. Failure occurs when we fail to audit the work done through reviews or other means of verification and validation. It isn’t the big things that create project failure, it is a myriad of small details missed along the way.

Knowing the answer to where and why projects fail hasn’t seemed to prevent projects from failing. That would imply that project failure is always one of the possible outcomes for every project started. It is always possible that we won’t get a job, cook a delightful meal, have a beautiful lawn, or have a delightful vacation. Failure can always occur. Instead of avoiding that possible outcome, what if we embraced that as one of the many possibilities? What constructs would we put in place, what guard rails would be available, what exit strategies would be manifest, and what conversations would we have if we discussed the possibility of failure and discovered the opportunities available? What if we documented the myriad of small things that could go wrong, the failures that could occur along the way, and that could occur, and built our plan around those items? Yes, this does sound like risk analysis and mitigation, mostly because it is that very tool that could be used to embrace failure as a possibility.

The biggest barrier to project success is us. It isn’t as if we don’t know how to have a successful project, it is as if we believe nothing will go wrong if we push on, move forward, and ignore the warning signs. The cautionary flags of wrong resource for the job, work taking more effort, an increase in error rates, or the number of hours we are putting in continues to climb without an end in sight. It is as if the warning signs are invisible to us, like knowing the magic trick and not seeing the slight of hand. We know what is necessary to create a successful project. We fail to hold ourselves to the rigor and due diligence necessary and we fail to hold every project team member to the same level of rigor and due diligence, especially the client.

Take a moment, do a quick inventory of where you are in the project, review the current health of the project you are managing and ask yourself one question. What am I practicing today? If you find that you are spending more hours than the agreed upon amount (and if there isn’t an agreement you may want to create one), if you find that there are more mistakes being made than expected or than what had been occurring a month ago, if you are discovering a higher level of resource turn over, if your client meetings are filled with additional documentation requests, you may be in the midst of or at the beginning of the signs of project failure occurring. This is the time to ask, what do we need to do in this moment to capture what is occurring and then create a go to green plan. A plan to get the unhealthy into a healthier state. The issues will be in the details, and it would be best to identify and create a plan to resolve those issues, even if it requires moving the date and cost additional capital. It is better to be clear about where you are, only then can you plan the path to where you are going.

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Mindful Project Management

What is mindfulness and what bearing does it have on project management? Put simply, mindfulness has a bearing on every aspect of our lives and therefore, is significant to project management. Mindfulness is defined by Merriam-Webster as the practice of maintaining a nonjudgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one's thoughts, emotions, or experiences on a moment-to-moment basis. What project wouldn’t benefit from a project manager being in that state of mind? What friend, husband, wife, child, or parent wouldn’t benefit from being in that state of mind? Greater Good Berkley goes a bit further by defining mindfulness as maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment, through a gentle, nurturing lens. In other words, being in the present, being self-aware, and being open to possibility (the nonjudgmental part). When we manage or lead any effort, being mindful of our state of being is beneficial to us, our team, and the project.

There have been studies that have shown great benefits to mindfulness including decreased stress, improved focus and efficiency, improved sleep, improved relationship quality, and improved general health. Those benefits directly impact our responses to issues we uncover while delivering a project and how we engage the team in resolving those issues. It also allows us to be less biased and increases our objectivity which allows increased critical thinking skills. Mindfulness allows to move urgently, without stress, without bias, and with an open mind to look for the resolution of what is standing in the way of completing a project. It supports us in shifting when our plans have been changed due to unforeseen circumstances. While it isn’t a miracle cure, it allows us to create an environment where failure, mistakes, and unforeseen circumstances no longer disrupts us for days. Simply put, it increases our resilience and flexibility when things go “wrong” on our projects, which can happen frequently. The pandemic has showed all of us that nothing is predictable, and things can change without warning. Mindfulness allows us to move through the changes that occur.

How do you achieve a state of mindfulness? Well, that’s where ancient practices come to play. Interestingly enough, mindfulness has been practiced for thousands of years. It can be found in both eastern and western teachings, although literature suggests that Buddhist and Hindu practices are the true origins. Whether that is true or not, suffice it to say, the practice has been around for a very long time. I can tell you that, when I was in college, there wasn’t a course on Mindfulness. Of course, there wasn’t a course on Well-Being either and one exists at Yale today. The practice of mindfulness, in my experience, is best achieved through meditation. Meditation twice daily creates a focused effort of being in the present moment, connecting with mind and body, and settling into cohesion. Being in a meditative state allows awareness to come alive. While there are other ways to practice mindfulness such as yoga or through heightened awareness of everyday activities, the awareness that meditation provides is extremely effective. In my experience, meditation accelerates the learning of mindfulness.

There are several apps such as Headspace, Insight Timer, and Calm that support in meditation practices. If you are new to meditation those should be supportive. The key, as always, is consistency in the practice itself. When I started practicing meditation, I noticed (as did my wife), a shift in how I handled circumstances, in my driving, and in my general calmness in less than one month. Continuing the practice has continued to allow me to respond, rather than react, to belay judgment and stay open to possibilities, and to bring a sense of level-headedness to stressful situations. Oh, and my resting heart rate has dropped. Mindfulness matters, what are you practicing today? 

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Curiosity and Project Management

I was part of a team meeting working to resolve an issue. Two teams were focused on their position regarding the issue. The team with the technical expertise was clear that what was being asked should not be implemented. The other team required the technical team to implement the change for their portion of the project to progress. It was a good choice vs bad choice, right choice vs wrong choice conversation. Both sides were clear about their position and we were not moving forward. When faced with this type of dilemma, maintaining a curious mindset becomes important. Being able to ask probing questions to move teams away from positions and beginning to look for potential solutions requires that both teams begin to focus on the outcomes and move away from their respective positions.

To move most issues forward rather than staying locked in circular conversations, back and forth dialogue, or other time-wasting meeting discussions, framing the end goal and gaining alignment by the people involved is required. Documenting what the end goal and the associated drivers of success will allow the teams involved to focus together on a single topic rather than continue to hold their positions. If the teams are moving toward different end goals agreement is unlikely. The first step is creating the end goal and the drivers. The end goal could be to complete testing with the primary drivers being maintaining a short timeline and keeping the cost low. Once that information has been established and everyone involved is aligned, the teams are able to move forward. I am using the term alignment versus agreement. It is an important distinction. When seeking agreement, there is room for disagreement. Disagreement means that something small can stand in the way. Alignment suggests I may not agree, and I can move forward with the chosen direction because I can align my behavior to that goal. If I cannot align, then a change must be made to move forward. Agreement is a 100% and can cause an all or nothing barrier. Alignment allows for wiggle room.

Once aligned on the goal and the associated drivers, the teams can begin to bring forward the ideas to move forward toward the goal. Brainstorming is an ideal way to create as many possibilities as possible. Brainstorming requires that everyone involved sustains their judgement. No idea is skipped or shot down. All ideas are welcome, expanding ideas is a thrill, and all are kept while brainstorming. Once there is a laundry list of possibilities they can be discussed, combined, removed, and cleansed until there is a smaller subset of possibilities. That subset of possibilities is then ranked so that there is an order in which everyone aligns that they are further analyzed. Again, alignment matters as there will always be disagreement amongst the teams as to what should be tackled first. Most of the time, the teams can align on an order.

The Next step is to analyze the ideas, gathering data points for the primary drivers, in this case time and cost. Once the data is available the viable and most likely candidates are available. Since the teams came up with the ideas together, there is generally a stronger team bond, all parties are aligned on how to move forward, and the issues has an identified resolution. These steps can be applied to almost any situation where there is conflict, positions, and polarized teams. The primary ingredient that the project manager brings to the meeting is curiosity. Staying away from solutioning and allowing the teams to work together while asking the probing questions is the most valuable tool a project manager can learn. Being able to draw out the ideas of others, focused on a common understanding of the issue, the goal, and the primary drivers will bring issues to a close as quickly as possible. Practicing these tools in our every day lives will allow us to sharpen our project management skill sets. Project management skills are applicable every where in life. What are you practicing today?

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Project Management and Leadership

I was involved in interviewing a candidate for a project management position when one of the interviewers asked, “Do you consider yourself a project manager or a project leader, do you lead or manage the projects your responsible for?” I found this to be an interesting question, one that I’d not heard before. The longer I consider the question the more I embrace the importance of the word “and”. Working in a world of “or” tends to create a right or wrong mentality, a good or bad judgement filled arena. Creating the possibilities of good and bad as well as right and wrong allows the cultivation of a workplace filled with differing possibility, one in which we can review actions looking for what works and examining what doesn’t work rather than judging actions as correct or incorrect. In my experience, a project manager who manages but does not use leadership principles to manage or leads but does not use management disciplines is not as effective and successful as one who manages and leads.

What is the fundamental difference between the two? Let’s look at the basic definitions of both. A manager is a person responsible for controlling or administering all or part of a company or similar organization. The definition of a leader is that they are the one in the charge, the person who convinces other people to follow, who inspires confidence in other people and moves them to action. These definitions are similar and yet, certainly not the same. A manager is focused on creating efficiency through process and procedure, to organize the plan, and to ensure the result is attained. They do this by managing the team and the activities through the plan, ensuring risk is identified and mitigated, and by reacting to change as circumstances change. Leaders are focused on inspiring the team to attain the result, looking ahead to see what opportunities exist, identifying change to be used to improve the result, and ensures the team has what is needed for them to be successful. Leaders facilitate progress, decisions, and outcomes. Managers create the plan by which progress, decisions and outcomes can be realized. Leaders have followers, managers have team members.

Clearly, there is a difference between managing and leading. The management disciplines needed to become an efficient project manager are outlined in The Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK). Being competent in Scope, Schedule, Risk, Cost, Resource, Communication, Procurement, Quality, Stakeholder, and Integration management is necessary. Fundamental to being successful is the ability to create an actionable plan, to identify those involved and be able to communicate effectively to manage risk and scope, and to manage cost. These administrative disciplines are required for successful project managers and mastering them is a life-long endeavor. What works on one project may or may not work on another. Every organization and team will be different and requires a different approach. The fundamentals will not change, how the disciplines are applied will change based on the circumstances of the project. That is where being an effective leader becomes most important.

Without the ability to inspire a team, projects fail. Without the ability to look for ways to improve results, projects fail. Without being able to facilitate the team to discover the response needed, projects will fail. These skills, the ability to inspire, the drive toward change and the ability to facilitate are leadership skills. If every project were identical, management would be easy. Put together a plan and begin to drive. The issue is that projects are unpredictable, people are unpredictable, circumstances are unpredictable. The project management disciplines are founded on predictability. Leadership is about navigating through the unpredictable. It is about looking for opportunities when there are obstacles blocking forward progress. It is about looking for the change that is needed to generate success. It is about having a vision for the end point for which the team is driving and continuing to hold that vision as the driving force. Those are leadership skills, not management disciplines. Both are needed. Developing management disciplines while cultivating leadership principles is what makes an effective and efficient project manager. What are you practicing today?

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Play it Again: Keeping Skills Alive

Ever wonder how many ground balls a short stop navigates in their career? How about the number of time Joni Mitchell was asked to play “Both Sides Now”? And while DaVinci was never asked to sculpt “David” again, how many sculptures, paintings, and ceilings did he paint in his lifetime? Every artist, and dare I say every career, is filled with repetition. We are asked to do the same thing again and again. It is interesting to consider, repetition is what the great masters do. They work on a brush stroke, a cord progression, a building design, always looking for a higher possibility. It is no different in project management. Project Managers are asked to create schedules, identify risks, manage change, and manage the various knowledge areas over and over again. It could conceivably become mundane, we could easily fall into mediocrity, unless we continuously consider the work we are doing as new, fresh, unique, and from a place of curiosity.

I’ve never lived this moment before, the possibilities are endless is the battle cry of seeing each moment of our lives as filled with possibility. It is with this approach, from a place of wonderment, that we can see opportunities where others may simply see obstacles. It is when we embrace this moment as different from all the others that we’ve faced that possibilities spring forward into view. It is when we acknowledge that, right here, right now, is the only time and place that matters. Like the uniqueness of a snowflake, every moment is fresh and new. Different yet similar circumstances, different yet similar participants, and different yet similar you.

When a new issue comes zipping into the project like a baseball single heading for the shortstop, there is little time to respond, natural instincts take over as the player moves quickly toward the ball, the synapse firing and the brain determining measurements, distance, velocity and where to throw the ball for the best play possible. Split second decisions based on practice with the team on the field, knowing where everyone is because everyone has played together, practiced together, and won and lost together. The degree of trust is high, everyone knows they can count on everyone else to absolutely do their best.

How does that relate to Project Management? When something comes up in a project, allow the team to handle the issue. The manager doesn’t run onto the field and suggest what play the shortstop should make. The players each have a role to play throughout the game, including the manager. Each player stays in their lane, doing their job to the best of their ability. If the manager believes there is a higher possibility, they may work with the shortstop after the play. The team practices together, going through the various plays, getting to know the strengths and areas of growth of each player. The same is true for a project team. Each member of the team works with the other, again and again, passing “the ball” back and forth. The project managers role, is to look for ways to strengthen the team, suggesting ways to work together differently, and finding different processes to use to ensure the communication between team members is strong.

The work we do in project delivery, is repetitive. It is when we fail to see the unique aspects of every project and to view every project as a learning opportunity rather than a way to show everyone what we already know. Making every project the same or making every problem look like the puzzle we’ve solved before generally does not work. It creates solutions that may not fit, it alienates project team members with new ideas, and it rarely builds trust within the team. When a manager sits back and judges every play a player makes on the field distrust is created. When a manager encourages each player and sees the players doing their best it creates team and it creates trust.

Allowing the team members to play their part, using each moment on a project as a learning opportunity, and encouraging and supporting skill development creates strong teams. When something new comes up, they won’t be looking to you if you have set the context of the project, they will know what move to make, they will be clear on what to do because you’ve set the direction. Stating that direction again and again is a practice. What are you practicing today? 

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Forest and Trees

Project schedules, how many have you created in your career? I can honestly say that I lost track a while ago. I don’t even remember the first schedule I put together, nor the first tool I used. I can say that over the expanse of my career, the tools have improved in being able to create, maintain, and manage a schedule. I can also say there is more information available on how to create a schedule. If those things are true, that there is more information available and better tools, then why is project scheduling and control such a challenge? Why have we been surprised when a schedule we create in March is no longer accurate in October? What is it that happens to derail our schedule, especially after we took the time, energy, and effort to create a schedule that everyone agreed to and believed would work? What are the factors that impact project schedules and how can we ensure we have taken those factors into consideration? More importantly, have we taken the time to view it from the top down (the forest) and the bottom up (the trees)? Without zooming in and zooming out (trees and forest), opportunities to make necessary adjustments to keep our projects on track can easily be missed. Learning to work from a forest and trees perspective will serve us in our project management. Below are the ways in which we can ensure we are looking at both.

Start at the End

Being clear about the end of the project and what it produces is essential for building the plan on how to get there, and I don’t mean the narrow view, I mean the broad 360 view. Clients may ask for a high quality, quick delivery, and leading-edge functionality. Users may ask for an easy to use and intuitive product. The organization may ask to maintain the margin that was sold. The team members may want work-life balance and engaging work. Having a clear vision of what is created by the project, not just product it delivers, ensures a schedule is generated and created from a zoom out perspective. Will it produce a long-term client relationship or a once and done result? Will it strengthen employee retention or cause higher turn-over? Will it allow for additional business for the company or reduce its market penetration? Finding the balance or perhaps a way to create a win for all involved is the challenge at hand. Each project has the possibility to elevate or damage relationships while delivering the product sold. Creating the schedule outline using the 360 vision is defining the forest. Once created, gaining alignment allows all involved to have a stake in future adjustments due to changing circumstances. Additionally, the 360 vision provides the necessary components to the schedule outline while also providing stakeholder priorities when changes to the schedule are required.

Be Curious

Building the detail associated with the project, the bottom-up version, requires a great deal of curiosity. This is where assumptions can be made without explicitly discussing them. Hidden assumptions create instability in project schedules. Staying curious ensures there is no question that isn’t asked and answered in a factual manner. Uncovering the assumptions allows you to build contingency into the schedule based on as many unknowns as possible and yes, you may not uncover everything. The unknowns of a project are not known. Being clear about what is known versus what is not known ensures everyone has the same information. Preventing surprises is what is desired and staying curious provides the foundation to continue to ask questions even when everyone seems to know the answer. What I’ve experienced is that those who have experience can sometimes fall into the trap of knowing the outcome, planning for that outcome, and discovering they made some assumptions that were simply not true. Staying in a place of not knowing is more productive than coming from a place of knowing the answers.

Again and Again

Once the details have been added to the schedule, the impacts to the outline are reviewed and the review and update process is underway. The top-down and bottom-up are adjusted until the plan is agreed upon and, once agreed upon, a snapshot is taken. The snapshot includes assumptions, decisions, agreements on scope, and alignment on when the schedule will be revisited for revision to the snapshot. The project manager then begins the review on a week over week basis. Zooming in by adjusting tasks, reviewing resources, identifying impacts, and adjusting the details as needed. Zooming out by reviewing the assumptions made, the scope agreed to, and seeing what changes may be needed and when. Reviewing the 360 vision and the priorities of the stakeholders and coming back to those agreements regularly. When circumstances change that require an adjustment to the schedule which impacts the agreements reached, the project manager can work with everyone involved to determine the appropriate course of action. An adjustment to the schedule can be made without surprise and with alignment.

Summary

The way we do one thing is the way we do everything. What does that mean? It means how we create our project schedules may be how we do everything in our project management and in our lives. Learning to build our schedules from a 360 vision of the outcome we are creating will serve other areas of our lives. Once we’ve determined the 360 vision, we can build the detailed schedule. Reviewing and adjusting the schedule, looking at the forest and the trees, we can take a snapshot of the plan. Revisiting the plan based on the 360 vision, again and again, adjusting the schedule along the way rather than being surprised when what we planned didn’t happen the way we expected. What are you practicing today?

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Quieting the Noise – Part 2

Last week I covered the first two tenets that have increased my ability to maintain healthy project communication. They are integrity and responsibility. These two key principles, being your word and being responsible for all aspects of communication, are the foundation for ensuring communication is managed. There are three remaining tenets which I’ve found are important to reducing misunderstandings and adding clarity. Interestingly, these seem to be so obvious and yet they are frequently missed. By missed, I mean we fail to recognize that we are making the mistake that these tenets help us avoid. One of the reasons we miss them is that the speed at which a project moves, we just don’t seem to have the time, our brains move so quickly to the next action item, that we fail to slow down enough to take these into consideration. The first of the tenets is to assume nothing. The second is to maintain objectivity, and the last is once is never enough.

Assume Nothing

I was in a meeting where someone was sharing information. The information they were sharing seemed factual, they were speaking about it with authority and seemed to have gotten the information from a good source. The problem was it wasn’t fact, it was hearsay. After a few pointed questions it was discovered that no one had proven the information true or not. When communicating on a project, it is imperative that no assumptions are made, that facts are shared, not hearsay, and if hearsay is shared, represent it as such.

This tenet goes for all aspects of communication for all aspects of the project. No assumptions associated with requirements, design, coding, or testing may create a higher quality product. At issue is that we are not always aware of the assumptions that we are making. A second set of eyes when delivering any communication will support in reducing the assumptions made. Requesting feedback on a note out to a client is a great way to reduce the likelihood of any assumptions making it into the communication.

Maintain Objectivity

Maintaining objectivity simply means we are aware of our feelings while we are communicating. Ensuring we aren’t allowing our emotions to control our communication is a key component of emotional intelligence, understanding our emotions and being aware of them without them taking over. Additionally, being aware of the cause of the emotion is another important insight. That doesn’t mean that we don’t get angry, frustrated, or find ourselves in conflict. It simply means that we are aware and maintain our objectivity throughout the dialogue. Continuing to look for a positive outcome throughout the communication process is the goal and ensuring that those that you are working with are after the same goal moves the conversation forward.

Once is Never Enough

How many times have you heard a teammate say, “I sent him an email”, as if that was the only way to communicate an urgent request with someone. We have so many methods of communication, use all of them. When an important message must be sent, send it in multiple ways. When an important message must be heard, send it more than once. When an action must be completed in a timely manner, send a reminder, or five. Large projects require push and pull communication. They require that we push information out to various participants and then work to pull the information critical to the project into the appropriate place. Once is never enough when it is critical to project success or a timely response is needed.

Maintaining transparency in communication with the client to build trust is one of the most important foundations that a project manager can build. Communicating with integrity, responsibility, without assumptions, with objectivity, and frequently will make a difference in your client relationship. Discovering what is important to your client (objectively with no assumptions) and then delivering on that matters. What are you practicing today?

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Quieting the Noise - Part 1

Have you ever heard someone say, “it is going to be challenging to spin that into a positive message”? How about “there is nothing positive that I can find in that situation”? If not those, what about “lets find a way to share this without causing any noise”? Let’s face it, communication can be challenging to manage, especially when a project is not going according to expectations, when the various audiences have had bad experiences on previous projects, or when a group is risk averse. Finding the right timing, language, and vehicle for communication can make or break a relationship. When done well, it builds trust, increases throughput, and increases velocity. When done poorly, it can cause rework, increase the level of documentation, slow project progress, and erode trust. When aspects of a project causing delays, increasing cost, or reducing quality, project communication with any of the audiences or groups involved becomes an art form. Clarity in messaging, in other words, being clear about the purpose or intention of the communication and having a vision for the outcome is critical, it will guide the language, timing, and vehicle of the communication and will have a clear focus on what is most important to land with the audience and the trust that is built or lost with the communication.

Communicating effectively is a life-long endeavor, one that requires intention and attention. There are some personal practices that will make a difference when it comes to communicating. The personal practices that have made a difference in my ability to deliver a difficult message to a team member, client, or leadership come from various authors and organizations and have been used for thousands of years. When used consistently, they create trust, which is why they are effective when used in communicating challenging information. Alignment with these fundamental ways of being will create an environment in which communication flows. The search for the timing, language, and vehicle for communication will begin to flow more naturally as these practices become ingrained. The first two, integrity and responsibility, are explained below. I will explore the remaining next week.

Integrity

Integrity put simply is being your word. That means being your word to yourself and others. For example, you are invited to a party and you say you will be there. What if something happens that prevents you from attending? First, if you are breathing, it is a choice to attend or not. Being your word does not require you to neglect yourself for others, it does require you to acknowledge the choice you are making to others and to let them know before the event. Not showing up is being out of integrity. Having an honest and healthy conversation as to what is preventing you from attending is being in integrity with yourself and others. The Newton’s third law of motion states “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”. For every project action there is going to be an equal and opposite reaction. What that means is when our communication comes from a place of integrity, trust will come back.

Responsibility

This simply means that we are responsible for the outcomes associated with the project we are managing, not some of outcomes, every outcome. It means that when things are working, we can take responsibility and when they aren’t working, we can take responsibility. When we take responsibility for every action, every decision, every metric, whether favorable or not, we build trust and maintain our integrity. Taking responsibility means that you do not wait for information working under an assumption that someone will get it to you, you work under an assumption that you are responsible for ensuring you have the information you need to be able to be effective in your job. You no longer look for others to push information to you, you go after the information that is necessary. You no longer allow delays and obstacles to slow you down, you look for opportunities to move forward, to continue forward momentum and progress. You don’t say, “I don’t know”, you say, “I will find out”, you don’t say “I couldn’t get”, you say “I need your support in getting”. Taking responsibility is not about having the answers, it is about always being able to ask the questions, to stay curious about possibilities, and to continue to drive toward the goal.

Next week we will explore the additional tenets that have made a difference for me in communicating with the client, the team, and leadership. Integrity means that I do what I say I will do and if a change must occur, that communicating that change before the change is made matters to everyone. Saying a change was made and explaining it after the fact erodes trust, no matter what the explanation. Making sure everyone knows change is coming and the reason for the change builds trust. Taking responsibility for both the message and taking responsibility for managing the reaction to the message also matters. It isn’t just sending communication out and then hoping for the best. Communication continues once a reaction occurs, whether favorable or not. Taking responsibility for managing misinterpretations and miscommunications is part of the project managers responsibilities. Practicing integrity and responsibility in your life will make a difference in your project management. What are you practicing today?

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Being of Service, Avoiding Project Failure

Early in my career I was filled with ambition, striving to be at the top of my game, climbing the ladder of success, and driving to be the best project manager possible. What I wanted was to have the respect of others and financial independence along with a measure of achievement that proved my worth. While striving for prosperity, abundance, and success is a noble in many ways, how we go about achieving it is equally important. Additionally, the successes can be fleeting without a measure of humility and gratitude. Why this topic and what does it have to do with being a successful project manager? It is easy to fall into the trap of being attached to the accomplishments, the reputation, and what we have achieved. We can sometimes forget that each of those attachments can cause undue stress and anxiety which can warp our relationships and create the exact opposite of what we believe we want. James Allen wrote “We do not attract what we want, we attract what we are”. Anastasia Netri took it a step further adding “Take responsibility for everything that is showing up in your life, because it is reflecting back to you who you believe yourself to be, and what you believe is possible.” Being a project manager is about being of service to others. We are charged with delivering a product or service to a client. We are charged with ensuring the project team has everything needed for success. We are charged with looking into the future for possible points of failure and developing contingencies if those points of failure occur. In each of these examples, we are being of service to some other group. When we make project management all about us, we have created the greatest opportunity for a failed project.

Projects have an abundance of diverse groups which require a significant amount of give and take, balance, and harmony to create an outcome which satisfies those involved. Discovering what matters most to your client and maintaining balance in the different parameters that can be leveraged to ensure on-going client satisfaction is an art form. Clients generally want high quality, low cost, and fast turn-around time on projects. The challenge is to ensure they understand the trade-offs that are necessary to deliver the highest quality possible, at the lowest cost possible, in the fastest turn-around possible. Establishing clear boundaries and project governance at the outset and making sure the client understands the decisions they are making, because they do get to choose how the project proceeds, is imperative. Clarity in facts, concise in explanation, and ensuring that the project team has done the necessary due diligence to guide the client in the direction that benefits everyone matters most. Without the appropriate questions being asked, details being uncovered, and providing the quality, cost, time breakdown, the client is making decisions which could make it challenging to deliver without loosing some degree of integrity in the solution.

The same is true for every other group involved in a project, being it vendors, leadership, team members, or users. Each group has some criteria that they rank in importance that the project manager must be aware of to strike a balance that maintains an appropriate degree of buy-in from all involved. Being of service means that the project manager must understand what each group wants and needs to keep their satisfaction and engagement. When a project manager cares more about how they look, how successful they are being, focused purely on what they want, that the project can begin to suffer. This is when a win-lose relationship between groups can begin to develop, where one group becomes more important than another group. When that happens, the project itself begins to suffer due to a lack of coherence between groups.

When a project manager focus’ on what they want rather than what they are, projects can suffer simply because the project manager sets the tone for the project. Taking full responsibility for the project, being of service to those that are involved, maintains coherence between groups which allows for the balance and harmony necessary for project success. What are you practicing today?

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The Mechanism Does Not Matter

How often have you been part of a process in an organization to select a new piece of software or other tool to support project managers, program management, or portfolio management? How often have you worked with a project manager who had a wonderful ability to create spreadsheets, project schedules, capture and track issues, risks, and action items, only to fail at managing the project? How frequently have you worked on a project that tracked metrics and continued to add metrics due to poor project performance looking for what was not working on the project? How often was the project you were working on reporting a healthy project only to find that the project missed the mark? A fire can be started with a multitude of tools and most can learn how to use those tools when practiced. It is a matter of having the appropriate materials and then teaching our muscles how to use each of them. The same is true for project management. The materials are the various project resources (time, money, people, etc.) and the tools include software and a myriad of templates for capturing and disseminating information. Project managers manage projects with what is available to them and while there are tools that may work better than others and materials that may be of higher quality than others, the materials and mechanisms used do not guarantee success or failure. If that is true, that the mechanisms and materials do not matter, what does? What is it that drives project success?

Having mastered many different project tools and resources over the past 30 years, I have found that trust must be present to drive project success and, taking that phrase a step further, trust is a cornerstone of what drives a successful life. I know that sounds both “of course” and “you have got to be kidding”. How does the addition of trust create a successful project or a successful life? What is it about trust that is so powerful? Why does trust matter?

Have you ever asked a friend, colleague, or someone you love, do you trust me? How easy is it to shift directions, take risks, or do something you had not previously considered when you trust the person asking you? How difficult is it when you do not have the foundation of trust? Making decisions and moving forward can happen quickly when there is trust, especially when there is self-trust. Project relationships are no different than personal relationships. When there is a lack of trust it slows project momentum. To be clear, trust is not the only ingredient needed for success. Project mechanics associated with capturing, tracking, and reporting information, especially issues, risks, and actions, support keeping a project on track. What I have found is that the lack of trust on a project creates communication issues, non-value-added documentation, additional meetings and, painfully enough, an increased possibility of project failure. If the foundation of trust is absent, the mechanics, the tools, what you use to convey information, will not matter. Your skills of doing the activities that project managers do will not carry a project to success without trust.

How do you develop trust in your relationships with clients, team members, friends, and family? Let’s ask a different question. How much time and energy are you currently spending only learning how to master the tools, the mechanisms, the activities of project management? How much time and energy are you putting into learning how to do project management, studying the PMBOK, reading about or taking courses in the various project management competencies? To contrast that, how much time and energy are you spending getting to know yourself and learning how to trust yourself? How many courses have you taken to experience self-trust, to experience emotional intelligence, or to experience leadership? How frequently have you searched for books on trust vs books on a tool or template to support you in managing projects?

The way to create trust is to generate trust from within. Self-trust is required to create trust in your personal and professional relationships. There isn’t another path. Learning how to trust yourself first and that place requires deep commitment and action. Challenging your stories and your limiting beliefs. Challenging yourself over, and over, and over again. Letting go of binary thinking, letting go of being right, letting go of thinking you have the answers. Creating trust in your relationships will require that you take a path that is uncomfortable and realizing that continuing to do what you’ve done in the past will not change your future. The answer isn’t in a new tool or mechanism, the answer is your relationship with you. If you are curious about what has worked for me, reach out. What are you practicing today?

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Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

Have you ever had one of those weeks when every day offered a new obstacle, an uncovered gap in your project, something that you did not see coming? One of those weeks when the amount of work left on the project seems to grow without warning? One of those weeks when, despite everyone’s efforts, the level of effort remaining grows along with the number of defects? One of those weeks when you think to yourself what else could possibly go “wrong”? One of those weeks when you get caught off guard, thinking things were going to be turning the corner, to find that the corner moved further way? The surprises that happen on projects occur again and again and no matter how many projects you have managed, no matter how many risks you have captured, what is a given is that it is impossible to predict the future and impossible to identify and guard against the “what if” scenarios that are possible. What that leaves us with is the reality that surprises will occur, and the surprise does not derail a project. It is how the surprise, the unexpected, the impossible become possible is handled that matters most.

What is an appropriate response to a gap in requirements, design, construction, testing or the myriad list of other components of project delivery? My early experience on projects was the project manager and leadership in general looking to blame, shame, finger point, and ridicule the project team members. This emotional response along with the anger or frustration that drives it is not healthy and may not work to resolve the issue and rarely works to avoid additional issues. This response frequently divides a team, causes team members to work cautiously and to fend for themselves. Isolation and self-preservation can occur which does not create additional team communication. Since team communication is frequently the cause of gaps, this response works to generate less communication which generates more gaps.

There is a better way to respond, one anchored in emotional intelligence and leadership. There are some basic leadership qualities that will make a difference when your project world is rocked by gaps, surprises, and team misses. In my experience, the qualities that has made the biggest difference are a calm mind, confidence, and perseverance. While the other qualities I have listed are significant, they will not matter if there is anger, frustration, or judgement entangled in them. Moving forward toward what is possible, continuing to ask questions out of curiosity rather than judgement, and being kind and empathetic towards the team will make resolving the issue possible. It will also build communication, which is where most gaps, issues, and breakdowns occur.

The remaining qualities are responsibility, seeing obstacles as opportunities, and communication. Leaders are responsible for every aspect of a project, whether it is going smoothly or not. Taking full responsibility for the current circumstances allows the team to focus on the resolution. In his book, Mastering Leadership, Michael Strasner suggests that obstacles are “a challenging invitation, an opportunity to rise up and achieve in the face of doubt and uncertainty” and that obstacles are “an inherent part of any significant achievement”. Embracing the obstacle rather than shying away from it and taking full responsibility for the circumstances and the solution is what a leader does. Communication is the last quality. It is not the speaking that is important in this instance, it is the listening. Hearing the team, allowing the team to come to resolution, and driving the team toward the solution by listening to each team member is critical. Hearing what is not being said as much as what is being said is equally important. This is what Michael Strasner terms “listening to the listening”.

Once you are rooted in these qualities, the action steps below will support you in moving toward a solution.

1. Who must be involved: Gather everyone involved, to the best of your ability, into a meeting.
2. What is the gap: Get everyone to align on the definition of the issue, gap or obstacle (what specifically is going wrong, what was missed).
3. How did we get here: Allow everyone the opportunity to speak their truth regarding the facts that led to up to this moment and the circumstances that exist (until everyone is heard you may continue hearing the same thing over and over until it is acknowledged).
4. Plan: Define clearly and specifically what the next set of steps is, who owns each step, and when the step will be completed
5. Timing: An assessment should be done to determine how long the solution will take and how much effort it will require
1. Quantify potential impacts to the project schedule and cost.
6. Resources: There may be multiple teams that can works at the same time, ensure everyone is clear on outcomes of each step
7. Communicate:
1. Identify the communication that will be occurring and the associated timing of that communication.
2. Agree on when the group will come together and ensure we are on the right path to resolve the gap.
3. If the client is not aware of the issue, determine the appropriate communication and the associated timeline of that communication.
4. Determine if there is an improvement needed to increase team communication to avoid additional gaps.

The last step, communicate, has four parts to it, do not skimp on the communication. Surprises usually occur when a team is not communicating fully. Increased meetings may not be the answer, although they may. Practicing your own communication with the team in multiple forms may allow your team to understand their own communication breakdowns. What are you practicing today?

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Stakeholder Management – Boundaries Matter

I read an article the other day that Stakeholder Management is not a good phrase to use since no one likes to be managed, especially the stakeholders on projects. Stakeholder Management is the very last topic in the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) and is described as the process associated with identifying stakeholders, planning stakeholder engagement, managing stakeholder engagement, and monitoring stakeholder engagement. In non-PMBOK terms, what it is about is being present to, aware of, and engaged with everyone involved in any way with the project because if they are involved, they can impact or be impacted by the project.

In reviewing the PMBOK, it sounds very scientific, crisp, and, while complicated, achievable. Stakeholder management is a way to describe how a project manager takes into consideration every group that can impact or be impacted by a project. That includes clients, users, team members, the government, and a myriad of other possibilities. The biggest issue project managers face in Stakeholder Management is people are not predictable. While you may work diligently to pull together the ideal list and the ideal plan, the landscape will be ever changing because stakeholders are people. The truth of the matter is that using the word stakeholder as an identifier depersonalizes the relationships the project manager must foster, build, consider, and be present to.

Gathering the list of groups can be a challenge and, as the project progresses, project managers often discover missed groups or previously unidentified factions as organizations shift and change over time. Project managers are also met with turnover which can alter the agreements made previously. Understanding that, at the heart of managing all these relationships, boundaries play a critical role in all relationships and that these project relationships are no different will benefit most project managers. Additionally, boundaries set early and often can simplify managing communication, scope, schedule, and many other aspects of the project.

What do boundaries look like in project management? Agreements, written agreements in the form of decisions. Decisions made jointly, documented, and returned to again and again to ensure everyone remembers the agreements made and when there is a change to the agreement, that an impact assessment is performed to determine if the change will require more time and effort and if so, how much more. Why does that matter? How often have you moved a boundary and had to do more work because the boundary moved? It could be a minor adjustment and an easy agreement to make and before you are fully aware, your status report is a 100-page document created weekly by 4 people which was never budgeted for in the first place.

There are many instances when the little things eat away at a budget. The larger changes are easier to recognize, analyze and take care of through change management. It is the incessant requests for a small adjustment here or there that extends work beyond what was considered in the beginning of the project. Setting a clear precedent that each ask made by anyone engaged in the project may be a change to an established boundary that was used in budgeting time, effort, and cost for the project allows decisions to be made, captured and the project to be managed. Boundary setting is one of the primary jobs of a project manager. Working with various groups to establish agreed upon boundaries, documenting the boundaries, and discussing the boundaries again and again allows everyone the opportunity to work together toward a mutual goal. It is in the moments when a boundary surprise hits that communication becomes strained.

Learning how to establish boundaries, the ebb and flow associated with adjusting boundaries, allowing shifts to occur and making it clear what those shifts cause in the management of the project, and keeping a clear record of the changes that occur throughout the project is a large part of project management. This practice of boundaries is critical to work and personal relationships. Clarity, agreement, and fluidity all matter. Boundaries matter. What are you practicing today?

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Meditation: Creating Your Competitive Advantage

I have been on an interesting journey for the past month. I decided to read a book that had little to do with project management. The book is Breath by James Nestor. I was curious because I have sleep apnea and my wife has asthma. I read it to improve my sleep which I believe is an important part of my wellbeing. I did not read it to improve my project management capability, I read it to improve my life in general. Little did I know that the journey I started for sleep apnea would have an impact on many areas of my life including my relationships, my general health, my energy level, and my career.

The books importance is teaching us about breathing as an integral part of our lives and the impact optimal breathing can have on us physiologically and mentally. What it did for me was to bring attention to the fact that I spent little time thinking about the basic act of breathing and what it can teach me.  Most importantly it mentioned an organization which teaches breathing techniques. I decided to take a shot and see what it had to offer. I connected with the organization and have taken two of the workshops it offers out of curiosity. That journey started on February 5^th. I began seeing benefits from the breathing and meditation practices i learned from The Art of Living organization and have done some additional research since that first workshop. As a result, I have added breathing and meditation to my morning routine. My mornings consist of focused breathing and meditation for about an hour.

Project Management can be a stress filled job. The tug and pull of project delivery, working diligently to find the balance between client desires, team capability, budget, time, and the other constraints of most projects can be draining. The continuous barrage of to do lists, action items, issues, and risks while maintaining clear communication and creating an environment that gets things done challenges most project managers. Between meetings and creating deliverables there are too few hours to complete the work. Working from home makes it even easier to work well over fifty hours a week which puts a strain on your personal relationships. All of this causes stress and stress has been associated with physical concerns such as muscle tension, headaches, and sleep disturbance. Stress is also linked to psychological issues such as anxiety, depression, anger, and reduced cognitive abilities. These symptoms show up in our behavior such as exercising less, angry outbursts, over or under eating and other less than healthy behaviors. If you have any of these symptoms, meditation may be something to check out.

Why meditation? Studies have shown that meditation reduces anxiety, increases mental clarity, lengthens your attention span, improves sleep, and enhances self-awareness. These are just a few of the benefits of meditation. Why would this make it a competitive advantage? Consider the difference in your life if you were able to be in a stressful environment without reacting to that stress. Consider the advantage you would have if you did not react to a project not going as planned but navigated it by thoughtful consideration of the possibilities. Consider the difference in your life in general? Being in the present moment, grounded in the facts, and in a state of mind that is calm and aware allows anyone the opportunity to make decisions with clarity rather than panic, foresight rather than knee jerk.

What I am not saying. I am not saying that meditation is the answer to the project ills that project managers face. I am not saying that meditation will fix the problems associated with projects that are failing. I am not even saying that meditation will make you an exemplary project manager. I am suggesting that meditation may support your journey as you strive to be the best project manager you are capable of being. I am saying that meditation will do for you what the studies have shown it does for most. I am suggesting that it may make a difference in your life and your career as a project manager. I am also suggesting that practicing it consistently and regularly is a way to take time for your own well-being. A way to spend time with yourself and continue to expand your awareness of you. What are you practicing today?

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Communication: Assumptions and Expectations

In this blog, we will explore the communication tools that will limit the misunderstanding that can occur on projects. The misunderstanding stem most frequently from assumptions and expectations and limiting the possibilities associated with those two areas will support project success.

Ever run into an issue where a team member assumed that turned out to be incorrect? I certainly have and it caused additional delays in delivery. Ever had a client be frustrated with a response because they interpreted the answer differently than you did? I have and it caused a significant amount of effort to gain clarification and keep the project on track. The bookends of assumptions and expectations can be disastrous for a project. Especially with the modular nature of our software systems these days. The “plug and play” of small areas of expertise and the misinterpretations, assumptions, and missed expectations can cause immeasurable rework and a break down in trust.

If there were an easy answer to this age-old dilemma in project management. It is simple and simple does not mean it is easy. It is challenging, it can be time consuming, and it is can be counter intuitive. The desire to get work done quickly and into the hands of the client is often the reason that there are delays in delivery. The adage time takes time is a true metric in project management. Wanting to land a deal, the level of effort is trimmed so that the bid can be won. What that can cause in the project is a scarcity mind set, where there is a belief that there simply is not enough time to complete the project. While that may or may not be true, beginning a project believing there is not enough time creates a series of decisions that limit the time at the beginning of the project when the decisions regarding the governance and framework of how the team will interact are being formed. This is where a lack of alignment between the various stakeholders begins and where the greatest possibility exists to establish those processes that will limit rework throughout the project.

The truth is, this is not only true in project management, but also for many relationships. Think about it for a minute. Ask yourself, are there examples in my life where a few minutes of conversation would have prevented a misunderstanding? Has there been an occasion where I made assumptions that were different that what happened? When I have expectations of how things are going to be handled and it turns out differently, does it matter to me? What about when I think there is alignment and I later discover that I misunderstood? If it is possible in my personal life, certainly it is possible in my professional life since it is all the same life. The saying, “the way we do one thing is the way we do everything” is another way of saying we frequently handle all things in a similar manner.

The key to these issues, time scarcity, assumptions, and expectations, is communication. Not just any type of communication, it is based on the art of asking questions, lots of questions. It is also built upon the communication tool of repetition. That are is to say what you are going to say, say what you say, and then recap what you said followed by asking what the group or individual heard. It also means that every decision made can be changed, with one caveat, that the impact is documented and agreed upon.

What I have seen repeatedly is changing a process and not being clear that the process has changed, making an exception and not documenting the exception, adjusting to meet client expectations without tracking the cost for every aspect of change. There is an ebb and a flow to every project, a give and take, a balance between client needs, the cost, and the value realized. The other key to note, it is not the big things that end of costing the most. It is the little agreements along the way that cost the most in the long run. An hour here or there is not much, and it adds up. It sets presidents that set additional presidents. Each time that occurs, the margin erodes until it is gone.

Once again, this is not project management specific. This happens in all relationships and it is not about keeping score, it is about limiting the frustration and resentments that can occur when there is a lack of balance. Communication, exploring through questions, writing down agreements, introducing it repetitively will anchor everyone in the language and the agreements made. Continuing to be flexible and adjust works well as does capturing the impact of the changes made and ensuring that there are limited assumptions and expectations.

In summary, ensuring assumptions and expectations are uncovered at the beginning of the project and taking the time to document them will foster a level of alignment and understanding across the stakeholder relationships. Probing questions, restating the agreements, and clarifying changes in processes and agreements supports in healthy communication. The simple tool of say what you will do, do what you said, say what you did allows everyone to be clear on the processes being followed. This simple practice in all relationships will add clarity and reduce misunderstandings. What are you practicing today?

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Building Blocks

I was sharing with a colleague the other day about the building blocks, the basics of well-being. I believe project management is an extension of ourselves. When we are taking care of ourselves, we are taking care of our project management. The integration of the various areas of our lives into a cohesive tapestry ensures that we are continuously practicing similar things whether we are working on personal relationships or work relationships. There isn’t an either/or, there is only a both/and. When we are mindful of how we are treating ourselves, we become mindful of how we are treating others. There is no separation. That doesn’t mean we don’t make mistakes; it does mean there is no ill intent behind the mistakes we make. The building blocks of well-being have corollary building blocks in project management.

What my colleague shared with me is resistance. They made it clear that it isn’t that simple, that it isn’t about the building blocks, if it were that simply we would have all figured it out by now. I recognize that resistance, I’ve felt it and thought it and held to it tightly. The shear thought that the building blocks make that much difference is preposterous. The thought that if we consistently practiced the basics every day that results would come. If we focused on the building blocks instead of the end goal, that the end goal would begin to come into view. It cannot be that simple or I would have figured it out by now!

What if we hypothesize that our national health crisis is due to the denial of the fact that the basic building blocks are the answer? What if all the fancy diets and exercise programs that we’ve been trying out and continue to search for is a longing to prove our pre-conceived notion of “it has to be harder than simply implementing the basics”? What if the same is true for project management? That we continue searching for an easier, better, more efficient way to manage projects without implementing the rudimentary practices? If it were that simple, we would have figured it out by now!

To create a life filled with success, we must focus on our well-being, the well-being of mind, body, and spirit. To create a successful project, we must focus on the well-being of our project, the health of our client relationships, line of site to the end, and team. To be an excellent project manager, we must practice the basics of project management and before we can do that well, we must practice the basics of well-being. We use our bodies to conduct work, whether it is on the football field or in the office, we must become mindful of our bodies to ensure excellence in delivery. Practicing the basics of our well-being teaches us how to practice the basics of project management to create optimum health. The lessons we learn for our own self-care, translate to the career we choose, the relationships we build, and ultimately the life we create.

Resistance to this is normal, natural, and healthy. The answer is simple and challenging. It isn’t complicated. I’m suggesting it is simple and it is challenging. While we continue to understand a great deal more about why the basics work, the fundamental answer hasn’t changed. Don’t get me wrong, a lot has been refined over the years, we have a deeper appreciation for the complexity associated with how things work together. The fundamentals we are challenged to be consistent with to enable our well-being are food, sleep, movement, breathing, and meditation. Practicing these daily is the challenge when all of life seems to ask us to take an easier path. The basics of project management which we are challenged to be consistent with are the management of risks, issues, action items, scope, and resources. Just as life has a way of challenging our ability to care for ourselves, circumstances occur in projects which makes it challenging to stay consistent with the basics.

What is it that makes a difference? What we are practicing matters. Where we choose to focus our energy matters. Focusing on the basics, practicing excellence in those basics of self-care and project management, allows us as project managers to move through the day with ease and flow. Having the basics taken care of means we can focus our energy when something unplanned occurs. The fundamentals will support moving through any circumstance with grace. What are you practicing today?

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Trust

One of the keys to being successful as a project manager is having relationships built on trust. It is one of the key ingredients to successful relationships in life and business relationships are no exception. We are rarely successful in life without that core tenant as a corner stone to our relationships. Trust allows for mistakes to occur without suspicion of an underlying motif. Trust suggests that the information provided is the best information available and that there isn’t anything hidden or held back. There are two primary qualities that build trust.

Integrity

In his book, The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz terms it “Be impeccable with your word”. Another way to say it is do what you say you would do. All the documents that are delivered on most projects are moment in time deliverables. We write out the processes, procedures, and guidelines that everyone on the project will follow. It includes when we will provide information, what information we will provide, and when it will be provided. Those agreements about how the project will be governed, is the responsibility of the project manager. They are responsible for ensuring that everyone on the team, client, and team member alike, are aligned with how the project will flow. When projects last years, this critical component may change over time. It is equally as important that the documentation that says how we will conduct business is kept up to date. This allows new team members to join and understand how to integrate with the rest of the team.

Just as everything is built one moment, one segment at a time, so it is with trust. It isn’t just the project governance that matters. Trust is built on showing up on time for meetings, by delivering on action items when you say you will, by reviewing changes to documents prior to the changes being made, by eliminating surprises whenever possible, and by simply being in integrity with all that you do and all that you deliver for your client. It is also by using facts, not suppositions, when relaying information. It is by eliminating hearsay through the questions that you ask, by ensuring you are working from the lowest common denominator, and by ensuring that you have the facts that are available at the time. One of the things that caused me problems early on in my career was by conveying information without the facts that were available. Learning to ask the questions was the biggest lesson that I learned. The saying is “don’t make stuff up”. Don’t assume anything in your communication with your team or your client. Ensure you have the facts regarding the information you are conveying and, if not, do not convey anything until you are able to back it up with the facts.

One of the pitfalls of being a project manager is coming from a place where you must have the answers, you must know because everyone looks to you to have the answers. The result can be that you begin to miss asking the questions because you are coming from a place of knowing rather that a place of not knowing. Thinking you know what is happening based on past projects or past events can sometimes blind you to what is occurring on the project you are now leading. Blinded by the past, you may fail to ask the questions to understand the present situation. Staying in a place where I don’t know, where I don’t have the answers and am curious about getting to a place of understating has been a successful approach for me. Being a master at asking all the possible questions to ensure that the information that you are receiving is also not based on preconceived notions is a skill worth developing.

Building trust starts with doing what you say you are doing, the other is to say what you are doing. In other words, when things must change to fit the changing circumstances, explaining what you are doing because of the circumstances is equally as important as continuing to do what you said you would.

Don’t See Intention in Others Mistakes/Don’t Make Assumptions

Another core tenant in building trust is coming from a place of trust. “Don’t Make Assumptions” is the second agreement from the book, The Four Agreements. The foundation for building trust with others is coming from a place of trust in them. Rather than seeing their actions as containing ill intent or making assumptions about what they are working toward, start with the facts associated with the circumstances and have a conversation about the situation. Whenever your come from is fear or distrust, you will receive the same in return.

Trust Yourself

The last ingredient is to always trust yourself. We each start our days with the intention of doing our best, rarely does anyone start out their day by choosing to be anything other than their best. Trust that you start your day with the intention of being successful, trustworthy, honest, kind, and fair. Start your days with the choice of enjoyment in all that you do during the day. Come from a place of we can, team, and collaboration. Work with integrity, trust, openness, and your relationships will thrive. Choosing to work in a way that you know everyone is doing their best, just as you are doing your best, allows for mistakes to be made and learned from rather than condemned. Your client will appreciate your approach when you are working from a place of trust. Practice it with yourself and see the difference it makes in all your relationships. What are you practicing today? 

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Meeting Facilitation: 3 Rules for Success

How many meetings do project managers facilitate in any given day? Between requirement, design, internal status, issue resolution, and client status meetings the number can be staggering. The skills associated with facilitating a meeting become paramount to the project manager. Keeping a meeting on track, on time, and valuable to those attending makes a difference and can make or break a career. I am also acutely aware that there are some meetings that, despite all the know how in the world, simply don’t go as planned. There are the x key techniques that are designed to create a successful meeting outcome, whether the meeting goes as planned or goes off in a direction you didn’t see coming.

Vision

Every meeting has a purpose, a desired outcome. The key is to consider the entire meeting from the perspective of what success looks like. The vision for the end of the meeting, with all participants leaving with the same understanding of what is next or what was decided sets the stage for the content and flow of the meeting. This is important for everything from status reporting to issue resolution meetings. Status meetings can be some of the biggest culprits for meetings going in a direction other than what was planned. Setting the stage and maintaining the context of the meeting throughout the meeting by coming back to the vision, the purpose, and the desired outcome keeps meetings on track. It supports halting conversations that require follow on research, preventing someone from hijacking the meeting, and circular conversations that have no end.

The significance of vision is one of focus.  When you have taken the time to gain alignment with the meeting participants prior to the start of the meeting, maintaining the flow to stay on course becomes vision focused, it is not about the people involved. Finding the graceful way to stop conversations outside of the purpose becomes one of revisiting the vision. A cautionary note. Be aware when many participants have shifted away from the initial purpose and have aligned with a different conversation, one they believe is of greater importance than the original purpose or outcome. Being able to move with them and gain alignment from the group that the direction needs to shift clears the way for a successful meeting. As with all things, there is a graceful middle ground, where allowing the conversation to flow and ensuring the flow is in the direction of the desired outcome is the role of the facilitator. Rigidity and laxness would be best avoided. Rigor would best describe the role of the facilitator when describing what it takes to maintain a vision focused meeting.

Agenda

Having defined the purpose and clear vision for the outcome of the meeting, the agenda creates the flow for getting to the end. Ensuring the basics are taken care of, such as how much time each topic will take, what mechanism will be used during each topic, and who will lead each topic allows the agenda to flow freely. Three items which would be best to include in all agendas are: 

• Introduction including attendance, statement of purpose, a review of the agenda, and gaining alignment on the purpose and agenda topics 
• Action Items review 
• Decision review

·    Maintaining the timing of each of the topics is important. This includes interrupting the conversation to let everyone know that the time is running over and gaining alignment on continuing the discussion or creating action items to resolve the topic later would be appropriate. Gaining alignment from the participants on the “what’s next” allows them to take ownership of the outcome of the meeting.

Visual Queues

Seeing it in writing matters. When participants see their words, or a paraphrase of their words, it allows them to let their points go. Rather than continuing the conversation based on a perception of not being heard, they are able to see that what they have said matters, it is part of the permanent record. Not only that, recalling what happens in a meeting can be extremely challenging, the written notes, one authentic voice for the outcomes, something to be followed up with, the visual action items and decisions of the meeting, allow everyone to have a common understanding. Being able to review this information before the close of a meeting allows everyone to have a common understanding of the outcome and what comes next.

Summary

There are three things that allow meetings to run smoothly. A clear vision, an agenda that supports the vision, and visible outcomes from a meeting. I know, there is a lot more nuance than those three things. The problem is, we rarely take the time to prepare and plan for those three things to be completed in excellence. Gaining alignment along the way will create success and ownership of the outcomes of the meeting. One of the last things to remember, you can plan the plans, you cannot plan the results. Another way to say that is to be clear on the purpose, the desired outcome, and a vision for what you want to create with the participants during the meeting while letting go of any expectations as to what will happen as the meeting unfolds. Being attached to a meeting going a certain way causes tension and stress. Allowing the meeting to flow and moving with it reduces tension and stress and will cause successful meetings.

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